“So You Think You Can Dance” 2012: Top 6 revealed (and how we got here)

This week’s show opened with a fairly sloppy and unconnected
opening number – there were multiple instances of the dancers not being in
synch – by apparently new choreographer Peter Chu. It did very little for me,
and the whole thing felt poorly rehearsed.

Then we got to the meat of the show, featuring Season 9’s
Top 8: Tiffany, Will, Whitney, Cole, Eliana, Cyrus, Chechon, and Lindsay. That’s one of the weirdest groups
we’ve ever had. Just ONE contemporary dancer (Will)? Unheard of on this show. I’m not complaining, mind you. I
like the diversity in dance styles represented by this crew, but I can’t help
but think that this is a very odd collection of contestants, especially given
the absence of some early frontrunners. I think the multiple double-elimination
weeks due to July 4 and the Olympics dramatically impacted the progress of this
season. There’s no question that Amelia and Matthew
would still be in this game if they were only doing one
elimination per week. They would have landed in the bottom, been saved,
and then gotten a bounce in the polls due to being put in danger. (See: Jessica
Sanchez and this year’s “American Idol.”) I also think the multiple off weeks
have seriously impacted the way the viewers connect
to these dancers. Even this week I was confusing
Whitney and Lindsay, and I still don’t feel like I know who the hell Tiffany
is.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson was back behind the judging table. He’s
a very entertaining judge and always has a lot to say, but I wonder what kind
of expertise he brings to the show. Then again, after weeks of dull AND
content-free critiques from legitimate dancing bigwigs The Ballet Boys and
Benjamin Millipied, I’ll take charming and insightful
any day. The Top 8 each danced a number with a SYTYCD All-Star, got little
personality packages (desperately overdue), and danced solos. Am I wrong, or at
this point in previous seasons wouldn’t the dancers each be dancing multiple
numbers per episode? Has this new format allowed for an easier go of it for
these dancers? If so, it has certainly worked to the advantage of certain
contestants *cough*Cyrus*cough*.

For her number Whitney
got hip-hop with All-Star Twitch, choreographed by Luther Brown, who has
apparently come down from the Canadian version of the show. The costuming
department had Whitney in goddamned Hammer pants. No. That is the not the look,
ever. I’d like to know if we have new costuming folks, because this is at least
the third or fourth time this season that I have taken notice of how terrible
some of these dancers are dressed. Whitney was really throwing herself into the
routine, possibly a bit too much. She was mugging throughout (ballroom
tendencies), but she was hitting the moves hard, although not with swag – it
was very bouncy. Still, I barely watched Twitch. The judges loved it.

Cole and All-Star
Allison got a jazz piece by Sonya Tayeh about a
soulless man and the woman who loves him. Sonya’s romantic bent from earlier in
the season has taken a darker turn, apparently, as this was much harder and more
disturbing than most of her recent work. Beautifully danced by the pair of
them, and once again Cole showed off his huge gifts as a character actor. I
found the whole thing hypnotic. Ferguson said it was like an “American Horror
Story” promo. Mary said it was the best performance she’s ever seen from
Allison. And let’s just stop a minute and appreciate how much better Allison
has gotten since Season 2. She’s incredible.

Eliana got a quickstep choreographed by Jonathan Roberts, and was paired with All-Star
Ryan, who I barely even remembered. She played a bored and ignored housewife
who tries to get her husband’s attention. Quickstep is such a tough dance, but
this looked good to me, and Eliana was really selling
it. Tons of fun to watch. Mary had a few notes on Eliana’s frame, but overall she loved it. Jesse
complimented Eliana on her range of emotion and
versatility as a dancer, and that is very true of Eliana
— perhaps more than any other dancer this season.

Lindsay got
another jazz piece by Sonya, and was paired with All-Star Alex Wong. I wish
Sonya hadn’t used “Somebody That I Used to Know” for the song, because I’m just
so over that track. I could barely focus on the dancing. The routine was
interesting and athletic, but not particularly attention grabbing. And I think
Lindsay fared especially poorly paired against Alex, who practically demands your attention.
Nigel did not feel the sexual tension, and I absolutely agreed with that. There
was very little chemistry between the two dancers. I am not sure if Lindsay is
capable of sexual tension at this point in her life, and I’m not saying that to
be a dick. I just don’t think she’s experienced enough for those kinds of
complex emotions. But all the judges praised the technique.

Will got a Christopher
Scott hip-hop with Lauren Gottlieb. (I love Lauren, but she’s not really a
hip-hop dancer; the fact that she’s pulling these assignments is a testament to just how weak
the female hip-hop contestants have been on this show.) The number tasked class
clown Will with being more serious, as he was portraying a brokenhearted guy
dancing his pain away. The interesting thing here is that the two dancers did
not interact in the piece at all; Lauren wasn’t actually there, just willing
Will to get up and dance. So the two had to mirror each other’s
movements without actually looking at one another. It was a cool, funky
hip-hop style that I liked quite a bit. It felt slightly sloppy to me in parts,
but given the unconventional set up that’s understandable. The couch rolling
was unnecessary. The judges all told Will how adorable he is and encouraged him
to believe in himself more, because he deserves to be there.

Cyrus got jazz by
Mandy Moore, paired with last season’s winner, Melanie Moore. So that’s
combining one of the best dancers the show has ever seen with one of the worst.
It was a really fun routine and Cyrus gave great face and attitude throughout.
There’s no question that he’s likable. But the dancing on his part was very
minimal. Lots of standing, walking across the stage while flexing, and jumping.
Surprisingly content lite from Mandy, and given her other routine of the night,
and the judges’ CLEAR favoritism of Cyrus, I’m tempted to call shenanigans.
Jesse compared Cyrus to Twitch, and I was thinking that myself during that
routine. Nigel talked about Cyrus’s personality, and the fact that Cyrus has
never been in the Bottom 3. He also added that, even by the end of the show,
Cyrus will probably not be the best dancer. Boy, howdy. If Cyrus wins this
thing he will unquestionably — UNQUESTIONABLY — be
the worst winner in the series’ history. Mary continued to make excuses for
him, about how he wasn’t dancing in his style, but NONE of them tonight were
dancing in their style. And she went on to say that none of the other dancers
can animate like Cyrus. But none of the other dancers can do ballet, and none
of them can do Cole’s style, either. And yet none of those dancers are given
passes, ever. I just get so tired of the way these judges treat the “untrained”
dancers like pets. It’s so patronizing, and it’s unfair to literally ever other
kind of style represented on this show. Do you think a tapper could ever get
the kinds of passes they dole out to Cyrus (and others before him – S7’s Jose comes immediately to mind)?

Chehon pulled a tango with the always-welcome Anya. It started out with huge leaps
from Chehon and beautiful spins from Anya. These two
are like paragons of masculinity and femininity when they dance. It was a very
romantic tango, not an overtly sexual one. Chehon did
beautifully in this – it was his best partnering to date. Mary loved it and
said that it was her favorite performance of the night, and that Chehon finally delivered a fully connected performance. Chehon was on the Hot Tamale Train! Very few passengers this season, I
hasten to add.

Tiffany got a
jazz/contemporary number with Ade, set to “The Power of Love” by Celine Dion.
Oh, MANDY MOORE. You have such…Canadian taste in music. A
very pretty routine, although I felt like I was forgetting it while I was
watching it. Is it weird to say that it felt more like an ice-skating
performance than a dance number? The judges gave it a standing ovation, which
was ridiculous. Jesse commented on the terrific lifts and partner work, and
that was true. Mary called Tiffany “extraordinary,” but honestly, I keep
forgetting that girl exists. She’s a very good dancer, and beautiful, but she
does not make an impression. I keep saying to myself, “There’s a girl named
Tiffany on this show?” Nigel brazenly stole Cat’s lame One Direction joke. It
wasn’t that clever the first time, certainly wasn’t the second.

Results: Lindsay and Whitney were the bottom girls, while
Will and Cole were the bottom boys. My pick would be to save Whitney and Cole.
Whitney was spared, and that will only help her – she will absorb pretty much
all of Lindsay’s votes, because they are basically the same dancer. And Cole
was also saved. I love Will, he is adorable, and a very good dancer. But Cole
is truly special and I want to see him in the finale.

I do think it is ridiculous that, as of right now, the two
dancers poised to win this season are one of the weakest contestants to ever
make Top 6 (Cyrus) and a dancer whose name I cannot even remember (Tiffany).
Neither of them have ever been in the Bottom 2.

This article appears in Aug 29 – Sep 4, 2012.